Thread: Aerial Photography Pictures ↔ {My first time}

Aerial Photography Pictures ↔ {My first time}


The Story: One of the gentlemen in our church is a retired pilot, he owns a small single prop airplane that he uses to fly around…pretty neat hobby right! Actually he uses it to visit his son’s family in OK quite often, but I digress.


The Reason: Our church has been building a new sanctuary for the past ~ 2 years, and it is nearing completion. Opening day for the new sanctuary is set for Mothers Day. He wanted to see if we could get some neat pictures of the church from the air to show on opening day J


The Outcome: I was happy with what I got for what I was using, but if I ever did aerial photography for $$ (particularly @ dusk or after sunset, I’d need to upgrade my lens (honest, I’m not just saying that to lobby for a new toy!!)



The Setup: I was using my Canon 24-105/4/IS the entire time; the range was pretty good, plenty wide, the zoom wasn’t quite as tight as I wanted but no way I could have not used an IS lens. We took off right @ dusk so the light was minimal. I shot wide open F/4 the entire time and tried to keep the shutter speed > = 1/100 but that was not fast enough. Often times, at least after the sun went down I found myself in a bad spot being near 1/60th of a second or lower…far to slow for a moving aircraft! I think our air speed was ~ 90 knots +/-15.

I was barely getting these shutter speeds @ 3200ISO mind you!!! Here is where the new insane ISO’s of the Canon 5DMII would come in handy! 6400ISO+ would have sure helped me out…noise not withstanding. The biggest improvement I could make though, is using a different lens; namely the Canon 70-200/2.8/IS….that would put me in a much more desirable position in terms of zoom & shutter speeds.

I had thought of renting it for our 2nd time out to shoot the church but it is a hard lens to come by when renting!
We need to do it again b/c for some reason the flood lights of the church were not on…only a few interior lights and the base of the steeple.



Yes! I need to update my watermark!! Shows you how many pictures I have taken thus far this year





Small craft must maintain 1K feet so these were all near that and again with my lens, most of the shots I took here 80-105mm (X1.6 crop factor)





No clouds!!!!!!!!!!! Boooooooooo! Maybe next time!





The Taylor airport moments after take off

Wouldn't it have worked better doing it during the day instead of at dusk?

You are always guaranteed some excellent views from an aircraft.

but i like your photo. =)

Nice pics!

Originally Posted by Red Hot Mama

Wouldn't it have worked better doing it during the day instead of at dusk?

the goal was to try to get both, some pics with some light and then after dark....the church all lit up & stuff

Originally Posted by Menthol

You are always guaranteed some excellent views from an aircraft.

it's quite the different perspective that is for sure, pretty neat!

Originally Posted by Harvester

but i like your photo. =)

I'll have some more....just need to find the time to post them! BZ week here

Originally Posted by specter

Nice pics!

tks

In Dust Tree



The arc in the center is a shopping plaza, "Super HEB" - the biggest grocery chain here in this area.
It's like a super Wal-mart but it doesn't suck!
SBT (Side Bar Tangent): For one thing Wal-mart has the absolute worst selection of groceries and quite often the most horrid of produce and dairy dates this side of your local 7-11.

The industry, not sure what the 6 large building are below the HEB, looks like a big office complex or maybe a big company.




The next 3 pics are from da hood! Our neighborhood (sub-division) including an elementary school.

Wide shots:





Our crib (1st street behind the school (walking track side), 8th house on the right))

You should come over to NC and I'll let you take pictures from the Tower

Originally Posted by Stax

You should come over to NC and I'll let you take pictures from the Tower

that'd be boss :sneaky:

Aerial Photography – FBC Pflugerville Texas 78660

Normally your subject being in the center is a compositional no-no in photography, but I think those rules do not apply to aerial photos.



I was pleased with this shot, the church being in the center really shows that it is in the heart of the surrounding community. Those apartments in the bottom of the frame have only been there a year or less too.



Pflugerville High School (main building not pictures). This was the site of some of the filming for the TV series “Friday Night Lights”. During that time the front of the school, the sign was changed to Dillon High School. The church is just a few blocks away and in fact the crew used the churches parking lot of trailers, equipment staging, food, etc during the shooting.



While the building might look relatively tiny from the air, trust me it isn’t! In fact, with a 24mm lens(1.6x crop), I cannot even fit the entire building into the frame shooting with a landscape(horizontal) orientation unless I am standing on the other side of the street.



I35 is the road leading through the frame. The building off center to the right is a Cinemark 20 movie theatre.

interesting ...

[MENTAL]where's the zoo?[/MENTAL]

Originally Posted by Stax

interesting ...

[MENTAL]where's the zoo?[/MENTAL]

IMP!

timsdd added 0 Minutes and 48 Seconds later...

the zoo is like 22 miles sw of where we were and truest me that it would not show up very much. it's not a "real" zoo for one!

.. real aerial photographers pilot their own planes!


How about some photos of the plane ?

Originally Posted by Kerosene

.. real aerial photographers pilot their own planes!


How about some photos of the plane ?

yeah yeah mr RC! :energetic:

I do have pics of the plane, I'll have to do that soon :cheerful:

hay nice pics guys

Originally Posted by themesjunction

hay nice pics guys

hay thanks :unsure:

Originally Posted by Kerosene

.. real aerial photographers pilot their own planes!

How about some photos of the plane ?

:surprised: Since when is Kerosene a WTFer? mg:

Originally Posted by Red Hot Mama

:surprised: Since when is Kerosene a WTFer? mg:

I now! Right!

(I was like where art I?) :energetic:

Lake Pflugerville, FBC Pflugerville, and I-35 Aerial Photos

Lake Pflugerville is obviously a man made lake, I think it was completed a few years ago.
I never realized it until just now – it looks like a big question mark!



A nice shot of the church @ 10th St & Pecan. And trust me when I say that it is bigger than it looks!
I think I already mentioned that I had to stand across the street in order to fit it in my frame on another set of pics I took.



I35 looking north…from where I am not sure



Somewhere in Round Rock, Texas

10th St & Pecan, Pflugerville, TX - Google Maps

That must be the church under construction on Google street view?

Originally Posted by Red Hot Mama

10th St & Pecan, Pflugerville, TX - Google Maps

That must be the church under construction on Google street view?

Indeed, as I mentioned in Halobutt's GSV thread

Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Google Maps Streetview

I need more light! Aerial Photos in Austin After Dark

F4/3200ISO/No Light! Not ideal shooting conditions by any stretch!

The idea was to get some shots of the church right when the sun was going down but before it was too dark….we never did hit it right!
As you’ll see in the 3rd shot, the lights were not on! This happened to us 2/3 times we went up…FAIL!



45 Toll Road aka MoPac aka Route 1….Texas law states that roads must have at LEAST 2 names….this one has 3!!




Told you the runway was short!!!




The lights aren’t on (not all of them!) and no one is home!!




New shopping center in Pflugerville, 45/130/685 intersection

your pictures were surprisingly good! keep it up!

Originally Posted by timsdd

I need more light! Aerial Photos in Austin After Dark

"After Dark" should have given you a clue that there would be a lack of light. :smartass:

Originally Posted by timsdd

45 Toll Road aka MoPac aka Route 1….Texas law states that roads must have at LEAST 2 names….this one has 3!!

Don't people get confused? Or is it on purpose to confuzzle tourists?

Originally Posted by timsdd

Love the orange-yellow colour of the toll booths, reminds me of the Dark Knight for some reason. Can just imagine the BatPod whizzing along there.

What's the big water tower-like thing?

I hate heights mg:

Originally Posted by grim

I hate heights mg:

So you are not planning on skydiving any time soon?

Originally Posted by timoffshoring

your pictures were surprisingly good! keep it up!

and just what were you expecting? crap?? I don't think so :energetic:

Originally Posted by Halobitt

"After Dark" should have given you a clue that there would be a lack of light. :smartass:

I know funny guy. What I really need is a newer camera body. The new bodies go up to like 12K and 25K ISO!!

Originally Posted by Halobitt

Don't people get confused? Or is it on purpose to confuzzle tourists?

yes, it's to madden tourists. :devlish:

Originally Posted by Halobitt

Love the orange-yellow colour of the toll booths, reminds me of the Dark Knight for some reason. Can just imagine the BatPod whizzing along there.

I diod not see him and if I would have I bet he would have been going too fast!

Originally Posted by Halobitt

What's the big water tower-like thing?

a big water tower-like thing

Originally Posted by grim

I hate heights mg:

but you're in a small plane....what could go wrong! :content:

Originally Posted by Red Hot Mama

So you are not planning on skydiving any time soon?

that is somethi8ng I could not picture :surprised:

Originally Posted by timsdd

yes, it's to madden tourists. :devlish:

John Madden comes there as a tourist? mg:

Originally Posted by Red Hot Mama

John Madden comes there as a tourist? mg:

on his way to cover the Texans and or Cowboyds! :goofy:

The pictures are really very nice! It's always interesting to see the Earth from the bird's eye

nice pics thanks for sharing